Research politics, bottom up.

Abstract

Now that the scientists‘ cause is supported by several European governments, most notably Denmark and France, it seems that, at last, the EC is willing to act. Or that was the gist of the presentation Achilleas Mitsos, Director General of the EC Research Directorate‐General (DG Research), gave at the meeting ’A European Research Council for all sciences‘ in Dublin, Ireland, this October. What Mitsos laid out was nothing short of a revolution in the EC's funding policy: EC Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin would ask for at least an additional €1 billion from the general EU budget to be spent exclusively on competitive basic research. These grants would have none of the strings attached that have made the Framework Programmes so unpopular among research scientists. “The basis should be competition and not collaboration,” Mitsos said, adding “in our mind there should be exclusively one criterion and that is scientific excellence.” Furthermore, scientists would be involved in every step and at every level of the decision‐making process, to make sure that the money is spent effectively and wisely. For the more than 80 scientists attending the meeting, it sounded like Christmas and Easter had fallen on the same day, particularly as Mitsos' announcement lacked any ambiguity. Michael Ryan, President of the Royal Irish Academy, seemed to have anticipated this when he commented in his opening speech that “the tectonic plates are moving at last.” > For most scientists, there is no question that only an independent and autonomous European Research Council, run by Europe's top scientists, can ensure efficiency and quality Mitsos overlooked one important detail in his presentation: who is going to distribute the extra funding? Although he remarked towards the end of his presentation that “[the EC] will be very open to any form [of governance] that will maximize the …